help for a newbie???

[ketchupshirt88]

im newish to motorcycles... been riding about a year, and i just bought a neglected and not running katana 600 1992. i sold my first bike, a 1986 shadow, and now i want this katana to become a rat street fighter on a lower budget. goal is to have it riding by next spring.

it is a california model i think, has a fan on the left side and i bought it in cali... right now i have no power at the "dashboard". the fusebox has power only in the far right fuse and there is a red wire coming out of the 30amp breaker that ends after like 3 inches.... gas tank is off and test light shows power in red wire after the green quick connect thing. no other wires have power except red wire. fuses all intact. i dunno how the 30amp breaker works though.


basically i t looks like the wiring harness has been butchered and spliced in a few places.... then completely wrapped in black tape to hide it.

any help troubleshooting would be awesome

a good zoomable california wiring diagram would be great too so i can figure out whats missing

[KAT TOY]

welcome.

[ketchupshirt88]

Ok...so after more fiddling in my spare time, I found that the only thing with power after the ignition is the tail light when key is put one click past the fork lock. Does this mean a bad ignition switch?

[TheSteve]

I think that 3 inch wire goes to the starter relay which should be nearby. The circuit breaker has a button on the top that you press to reset.

This isnt a CA spec one but I think its nearly the same. Ignition wiring should be at least.

Igniton switch looks like a possible suspect. That red wire comes from the fusebox, feeds into the igniton, then heads back to the fusebox for all of the "switched" power needs. If you have power at the right fuse and taillight then the circuit breaker is ok as is the red wire. Check for voltage at the orange wire from the alternator with the key in the ON position. If you find volts, the ign switch is ok. If not check the ign switch's plug and start following wires.

[ketchupshirt88]

i basically hotwired it this evening and got it to turn over... obviously couldnt start without fuel as the tank is off but that little engine spinning over gave me hope... i bypassed the ignition switch which proved to me that it was junk... the starter relay wiring is next on my list... putting a hot wire to the relay gets it to spin over but the actual engine start switch doesnt do anything so ill get to tracing those wires after i get a new ignition switch.

thank you for the wiring diagram.... so much easier to read than the shrunk down black and white one in my photcopied manual.

[TheSteve]

Keep in mind the starter button wont do anything unless all of the safety features are satisfied. Stuff like the sidestand switch, clutch switch, neutral switch. It always needs the clutch pulled in to start. For the sidestand, either the sidestand must be up OR the bike must be in neutral for the relay to be energized.

[ketchupshirt88]

i didnt know it had a clutch safety switch like that... i figured it would start in nuetral with the clutch out like my old car did and my old shadow and the farm tractors did... interesting

thanks for the info